SEC Catch Rate Leaders for 2011

by kleph on Jan 18, 2012 8:18 AM EST in SEC Football

Yesterday, SB Nation's College Football stats guru, Bill Connelly, unleashed upon the world his Targets & Catches totals from all of 2011. These numbers measure how many times given players are being thrown to, how often they catch those passes and what yardage they earn once they do. The master list is formidable but worth the effort of wading through.

I figured a good initial use of these numbers would be to see which SEC receivers (and running backs) were the most efficient over the course of last season. This chart lists every conference player targeted more than 50 times and then listed by catch rate. The key to the terms are at the bottom.

Top SEC players by Catch Rate (min 50 targets)

No.	Team	Player	Targets	Catches	Catch Rate	Target %
1	Alabama	Brad Smelley	51	41	80.40%	14.00%
2	Georgia	Malcolm Mitchell	61	45	73.80%	14.80%
3	LSU	Odell Beckham Jr.	61	44	72.10%	21.90%
4	Arkansas	Joe Adams	76	54	71.10%	17.10%
5	Georgia	Orson Charles	67	45	67.20%	16.30%
6	Arkansas	Chris Gragg	63	41	65.10%	14.20%
7	Alabama	Marquis Maze	87	56	64.40%	23.80%
8	LSU	Rueben Randle	87	56	64.40%	31.30%
9	Arkansas	Jarius Wright	103	66	64.10%	23.10%
10	Auburn	Emory Blake	60	36	60.00%	22.00%
11	Miss. State	Chris Smith	59	35	59.30%	17.80%
12	Tennessee	Da'Rick Rogers	115	67	58.30%	31.40%
13	Kentucky	Matt Roark	62	36	58.10%	19.70%
14	Miss. State	Arceto Clark	53	30	56.60%	16.00%
15	Vanderbilt	Chris Boyd	55	31	56.40%	17.40%
16	S. Carolina	Alshon Jeffery	88	49	55.70%	29.90%
17	Florida	Jordan Reed	51	28	54.90%	17.40%
18	Tennessee	Mychal Rivera	53	29	54.70%	14.50%
19	Georgia	Tavarres King	88	46	52.30%	21.40%
20	Kentucky	La'Rod King	79	40	50.60%	25.20%
21	Ole Miss	Donte Moncrief	63	31	49.20%	22.70%
22	Vanderbilt	Jordan Matthews	84	41	48.80%	26.50%

Targets = receptions plus incompletions targeting a given receiver.
Catches = receptions.
Yards = receiving yards
Catch Rate = catches / targets
Yards Per Target = yards / targets
Target % = the percentage of a team's passes targeting a given receiver.
%SD = the percent of a players targets that came on standard downs.

To give a bit wider view of the matter, I've also compiled a chart organized by catch rate of the top 100 SEC players targeted for passes in 2011 using Connelly's standard metrics. You can find that after the jump.

Top 2011 SEC Catch Rates (minimum 10 targets)

No.	Team	Player	Target No.	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	YdsPer Target	Target %	YdsPer Catch	%SD
1	S. Carolina	Justice Cunningham	6	20	18	142	90.00%	7.1	6.80%	7.9	45.00%
2	Ole Miss	Jeff Scott	6	17	15	99	88.20%	5.8	6.10%	6.6	58.80%
3	Arkansas	Ronnie Wingo Jr.	7	23	20	187	87.00%	8.1	5.20%	9.4	60.90%
4	Auburn	Quan Bray	7	20	17	93	85.00%	4.7	7.30%	5.5	65.00%
5	Tennessee	Justin Hunter	8	20	17	314	85.00%	15.7	5.50%	18.5	70.00%
6	Florida	Jeff Demps	8	19	16	172	84.20%	9.1	6.50%	10.8	63.20%
7	Tennessee	Tauren Poole	5	25	21	164	84.00%	6.6	6.80%	7.8	12.00%
8	Alabama	Brandon Gibson	9	17	14	140	82.40%	8.2	4.70%	10	58.80%
9	Vanderbilt	Jerron Seymour	7	11	9	108	81.80%	9.8	3.50%	12	45.50%
10	S. Carolina	Bruce Ellington	5	21	17	211	81.00%	10	7.10%	12.4	61.90%
11	Alabama	Brad Smelley	2	51	41	395	80.40%	7.7	14.00%	9.6	64.70%
12	Auburn	Trovon Reed	4	27	21	164	77.80%	6.1	9.90%	7.8	63.00%
13	Alabama	Trent Richardson	4	40	31	349	77.50%	8.7	11.00%	11.3	70.00%
14	Arkansas	Dennis Johnson	6	31	24	255	77.40%	8.2	7.00%	10.6	54.80%
15	Ole Miss	Vince Sanders	8	13	10	110	76.90%	8.5	4.70%	11	53.80%
16	Vanderbilt	Zac Stacy	6	26	20	106	76.90%	4.1	8.20%	5.3	30.80%
17	Alabama	Kenny Bell	6	24	18	281	75.00%	11.7	6.60%	15.6	58.30%
18	Alabama	Kevin Norwood	8	20	15	268	75.00%	13.4	5.50%	17.9	70.00%
19	LSU	Spencer Ware	5	16	12	71	75.00%	4.4	5.80%	5.9	37.50%
20	S. Carolina	Nick Jones	7	16	12	143	75.00%	8.9	5.40%	11.9	68.80%
21	Tennessee	Marlin Lane Jr.	7	23	17	161	73.90%	7	6.30%	9.5	30.40%
22	Georgia	Malcolm Mitchell	3	61	45	665	73.80%	10.9	14.80%	14.8	68.90%
23	LSU	Odell Beckham Jr.	2	61	44	504	72.10%	8.3	21.90%	11.5	72.10%
24	Arkansas	Joe Adams	2	76	54	652	71.10%	8.6	17.10%	12.1	68.40%
25	S. Carolina	Brandon Wilds	4	22	15	136	68.20%	6.2	7.50%	9.1	36.40%
No.	Team	Player	Target No.	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	YdsPer Target	Target %	YdsPer Catch	%SD
26	Auburn	Onterio McCalebb	2	47	32	344	68.10%	7.3	17.20%	10.8	31.90%
27	Florida	Trey Burton	4	28	19	149	67.90%	5.3	9.60%	7.8	53.60%
28	LSU	Deangelo Peterson	3	28	19	186	67.90%	6.6	10.10%	9.8	46.40%
29	Arkansas	Greg Childs	5	31	21	240	67.70%	7.7	7.00%	11.4	51.60%
30	Georgia	Orson Charles	2	67	45	574	67.20%	8.6	16.30%	12.8	65.70%
31	Georgia	Isaiah Crowell	8	12	8	59	66.70%	4.9	2.90%	7.4	75.00%
32	Miss. State	Vick Ballard	4	30	20	187	66.70%	6.2	9.10%	9.4	43.30%
33	Miss. State	Brandon Heavens	8	15	10	114	66.70%	7.6	4.50%	11.4	40.00%
34	Ole Miss	Jamal Mosley	5	18	12	166	66.70%	9.2	6.50%	13.8	55.60%
35	S. Carolina	Rory Anderson	9	12	8	188	66.70%	15.7	4.10%	23.5	58.30%
36	Tennessee	DeAnthony Arnett	4	36	24	242	66.70%	6.7	9.80%	10.1	66.70%
37	Alabama	Darius Hanks	3	47	31	386	66.00%	8.2	12.90%	12.5	63.80%
38	S. Carolina	Ace Sanders	2	44	29	383	65.90%	8.7	15.00%	13.2	52.30%
39	Kentucky	CoShik Williams	3	29	19	70	65.50%	2.4	9.20%	3.7	44.80%
40	S. Carolina	Marcus Lattimore	3	29	19	182	65.50%	6.3	9.90%	9.6	37.90%
41	Georgia	Michael Bennett	4	49	32	320	65.30%	6.5	11.90%	10	59.20%
42	Arkansas	Chris Gragg	3	63	41	518	65.10%	8.2	14.20%	12.6	57.10%
43	Florida	Chris Rainey	2	48	31	381	64.60%	7.9	16.40%	12.3	43.80%
44	Alabama	Marquis Maze	1	87	56	627	64.40%	7.2	23.80%	11.2	57.50%
45	LSU	Rueben Randle	1	87	56	930	64.40%	10.7	31.30%	16.6	57.50%
46	Alabama	Michael Williams	5	28	18	201	64.30%	7.2	7.70%	11.2	85.70%
47	Arkansas	Jarius Wright	1	103	66	1117	64.10%	10.8	23.10%	16.9	57.30%
48	Georgia	Bruce Figgins	9	11	7	96	63.60%	8.7	2.70%	13.7	72.70%
49	Ole Miss	Brandon Bolden	4	22	14	147	63.60%	6.7	7.90%	10.5	31.80%
50	Kentucky	Nick Melillo	4	27	17	186	63.00%	6.9	8.60%	10.9	51.90%
No.	Team	Player	Target No.	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	YdsPer Target	Target %	YdsPer Catch	%SD
51	Georgia	Chris Conley	6	26	16	288	61.50%	11.1	6.30%	18	61.50%
52	S. Carolina	D.L. Moore	8	13	8	52	61.50%	4	4.40%	6.5	61.50%
53	Alabama	DeAndrew White	7	23	14	145	60.90%	6.3	6.30%	10.4	65.20%
54	Florida	Quinton Dunbar	7	23	14	216	60.90%	9.4	7.80%	15.4	52.20%
55	Auburn	Emory Blake	1	60	36	613	60.00%	10.2	22.00%	17	35.00%
56	Florida	Frankie Hammond, Jr.	6	25	15	181	60.00%	7.2	8.50%	12.1	48.00%
57	Florida	Andre Debose	5	27	16	432	59.30%	16	9.20%	27	66.70%
58	Miss. State	Chris Smith	1	59	35	330	59.30%	5.6	17.80%	9.4	55.90%
59	Vanderbilt	Brandon Barden	5	27	16	243	59.30%	9	8.50%	15.2	59.30%
60	Arkansas	Cobi Hamilton	4	58	34	542	58.60%	9.3	13.00%	15.9	51.70%
61	Auburn	Philip Lutzenkirchen	3	41	24	238	58.50%	5.8	15.00%	9.9	51.20%
62	LSU	Kadron Boone	6	12	7	82	58.30%	6.8	4.30%	11.7	41.70%
63	LSU	Chase Clement	7	12	7	96	58.30%	8	4.30%	13.7	58.30%
64	Tennessee	Da'Rick Rogers	1	115	67	1040	58.30%	9	31.40%	15.5	48.70%
65	Kentucky	Matt Roark	2	62	36	349	58.10%	5.6	19.70%	9.7	56.50%
66	Miss. State	Malcolm Johnson	7	19	11	206	57.90%	10.8	5.70%	18.7	36.80%
67	Florida	A.C. Leonard	9	14	8	99	57.10%	7.1	4.80%	12.4	50.00%
68	Kentucky	Tyler Robinson	8	14	8	44	57.10%	3.1	4.50%	5.5	28.60%
69	Ole Miss	Nickolas Brassell	2	42	24	336	57.10%	8	15.20%	14	57.10%
70	Miss. State	Arceto Clark	2	53	30	442	56.60%	8.3	16.00%	14.7	67.90%
71	Auburn	Travante Stallworth	5	23	13	214	56.50%	9.3	8.40%	16.5	43.50%
72	Vanderbilt	Chris Boyd	2	55	31	473	56.40%	8.6	17.40%	15.3	47.30%
73	Vanderbilt	Wesley Tate	4	39	22	187	56.40%	4.8	12.30%	8.5	51.30%
74	S. Carolina	Alshon Jeffery	1	88	49	762	55.70%	8.7	29.90%	15.6	71.60%
75	Florida	Jordan Reed	1	51	28	307	54.90%	6	17.40%	11	41.20%
No.	Team	Player	Target No.	Targets	Catches	Yards	Catch Rate	YdsPer Target	Target %	YdsPer Catch	%SD
76	Tennessee	Mychal Rivera	2	53	29	344	54.70%	6.5	14.50%	11.9	49.10%
77	Tennessee	Rajion Neal	6	24	13	269	54.20%	11.2	6.60%	20.7	75.00%
78	Georgia	Aron White	7	17	9	101	52.90%	5.9	4.10%	11.2	58.80%
79	Florida	Deonte Thompson	3	40	21	264	52.50%	6.6	13.70%	12.6	55.00%
80	Georgia	Tavarres King	1	88	46	677	52.30%	7.7	21.40%	14.7	55.70%
81	Miss. State	Chad Bumphis	3	48	25	339	52.10%	7.1	14.50%	13.6	68.80%
82	LSU	Russell Shepard	4	25	13	176	52.00%	7	9.00%	13.5	60.00%
83	Georgia	Marlon Brown	5	29	15	234	51.70%	8.1	7.00%	15.6	62.10%
84	Miss. State	Ricco Sanders	5	29	15	163	51.70%	5.6	8.80%	10.9	48.30%
85	Kentucky	La'Rod King	1	79	40	598	50.60%	7.6	25.20%	15	51.90%
86	Auburn	DeAngelo Benton	9	14	7	136	50.00%	9.7	5.10%	19.4	57.10%
87	Kentucky	E.J. Fields	6	20	10	89	50.00%	4.5	6.40%	8.9	60.00%
88	Miss. State	Marcus Green	6	22	11	188	50.00%	8.5	6.60%	17.1	54.50%
89	Miss. State	Michael Carr	9	14	7	90	50.00%	6.4	4.20%	12.9	78.60%
90	Ole Miss	Donte Moncrief	1	63	31	454	49.20%	7.2	22.70%	14.6	46.00%
91	Ole Miss	Ja-Mes Logan	3	41	20	274	48.80%	6.7	14.80%	13.7	41.50%
92	Vanderbilt	Jordan Matthews	1	84	41	778	48.80%	9.3	26.50%	19	52.40%
93	Vanderbilt	Jonathan Krause	3	48	23	171	47.90%	3.6	15.10%	7.4	45.80%
94	Kentucky	Demarco Robinson	9	11	5	17	45.50%	1.5	3.50%	3.4	63.60%
95	Kentucky	Gene McCaskill	5	21	9	85	42.90%	4	6.70%	9.4	23.80%
96	Auburn	Quindarius Carr	6	21	8	173	38.10%	8.2	7.70%	21.6	42.90%
97	Tennessee	Zach Rogers	3	40	14	189	35.00%	4.7	10.90%	13.5	62.50%
98	Kentucky	Brian Adams	7	15	5	46	33.30%	3.1	4.80%	9.2	33.30%
99	Ole Miss	Collins Moore	7	15	4	69	26.70%	4.6	5.40%	17.3	46.70%
100	Auburn	Jay Wisner	8	15	2	28	13.30%	1.9	5.50%	14	6.70%